In mid-April, we looked into the crystal ball to predict when patent 10 million would be released and which specific application would be chosen. We have now reached the grand event – the unveiling of patent 10 million as published in the USPTO’s Gazette.

Our first prediction: this patent would be released on June 19, 2018. We are right on target. This was actually fairly easy based on the USPTO grant trends.

The other predictions were based on a variety of factors, so let’s see how close we came.

We felt the patent would be from an American company and American inventor. Turns out it is.

We thought the patent would relate to communications technology. Not only communications, but specifically around 5G technology. Actually, it was LADAR (Laser Detection and Ranging).

Given that World Intellectual Property Day honored women, we anticipated that the 10 millionth patent would honor a woman inventor. However, the inventor of this patent turned out to be a man: Joseph Marron.

We thought the USPTO would spread the honor and select a patent with multiple prolific inventors. It turns out, patent 10 million is a single inventor patent, however he has multiple patents to his name.

We argued that the USPTO would also honor a large law firm. Munck Wilson Mandala, LLP, an Anaqua client, prosecuted this patent.

Our prediction for patent 10 million (Application 13/666670 – SEARCH SPACE DESIGN FOR E-PDCCH IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS from Qualcomm Inc.) was incorrect. However, the USPTO selected a worthy invention that appears to have a significant number of uses.